Presidential elections bring out lofty claims and quick gimmicks in the battle for the hearts and minds of American voters. Toss in a second-term president in dire need of leaving some sort of legacy behind and the next seven months are bound to get interesting.
One issue likely to be addressed before November is President Clinton’s proposal that states pay parents while they spend time away from work following the birth or adoption of a child. It is undoubtedly a political slam-dunk with voters, but Clinton’s idea of how to pay for this expansion of the Family Medical Leave Act is what’s making business owners nervous.
Last May, Clinton suggested states dig into their unemployment trust funds and ordered the U.S. Department of Labor to prepare federal legislation enabling them to do so. Opponents argue that the money should be used solely to help people who are out of work, but want to work. Proponents counter by saying the booming economy has led to unemployment funds brimming with cash.
Spending that money may work in the short term, but observers such as Richard Millisor, an attorney with Cleveland-based Millisor & Nobil Co. L.P.A., believe an economic downturn could quickly put added stress on those funds, spelling increases in unemployment insurance payments for business owners.
Although claims have been made that rates could jump as much as 20 percent, there is some evidence that Ohio’s $2 billion could be burned through fairly quickly. Millisor estimates that 160,000 newborn births and adoptions each year could end up costing Ohio as much as $660 million if the state buys into Clinton’s plan.
Although no timetable has been set for the proposal to go from bill to law, business owners are wasting no time assembling organized opposition. The National Association of Manufacturers is on the record as sharply opposed to the idea. Millisor says lawsuits challenging whatever Congress legislates won’t be far behind.
Millisor suggests business owners who want to get involved contact their trade associations or their congressmen, who have the power to kill the proposal outright but may fear appearing anti-family if they do so. Even if the measure makes it past Congress, Millisor expects Ohio will be wary of it, at least at first.
“I would be very surprised if the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services would go for this,” he says. “I think you will very well see one or two liberal states adopt this. Then we’ll see what happens.”
How to reach: Millisor & Nobil, (440) 717-1515
Jim Vickers ([email protected]) is an associate editor at SBN.
